Wirepoints: Rauner's exit no cause for celebration now that Pritzker is in

Illinois residents may soon come to realize a change of scenery in the Governor’s Mansion may not be enough to give the state a different look.

Regarding the last governor, Wirepoints, a news source focused on the economy and its local impact, recently opined, “To be sure, the Rauner era was a mess, characterized by blunders, lost opportunities and about-faces. His leadership style was no match for House Speaker Mike Madigan’s machine and under the two-year budget impasse, the state’s dysfunction reached a new high and its finances a new low.”

Bruce Rauner

Bruce Rauner was replaced by billionaire businessman J.B. Pritzker, but the truth is there’s no guarantee Pritzker can do for the state's finances what he has done for his own. And the fact is, he has not even talked about a plan to deal with all of Illinois's troubles.

Therefore, many worry not much will change under Pritzker.

Wirepoints has reported one of his Pritzker's first orders of business was to sign salary increases totaling hundreds of millions into law for state workers who already rank among the best paid in the country.

At the same time, he has uttered barely a whimper about Illinois’s crippling state pension and equally stifling retiree health benefits.

And if that is not cause enough for raised concern, some worry it is again open season for what they call Madigan and Democrats' love of wheeling and dealing.

“The state is still on the same ugly path it’s been on for decades.” Wirepoints states. “So, exuberant Illinoisans can celebrate Rauner’s exit if they want, but they should still demand from Pritzker the spending and structural reforms Illinois so desperately needs—including a constitutional amendment for pensions.”

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